Wow! So much to see and so little time. Peggy has acknowledged that Wayne was correct. We needed 9 weeks or more and not the allotted 7 weeks to see the British Isles. Since it’s been a busy week, Wayne took the morning off. Beth and Peggy planned a full day for Beth’s last day. Our hotel is just off the Royal Mile which is the main road between the castle and Holyrood Palace. Following sister Susan’s advice, they arrived at Edinburgh Castle when it opened.

The castle sits on a high hill making it an excellent site for defense. Although it now overlooks a modern city with about 5 million people, one can imagine how imposing it was when it was built somewhere between the 10th and 12 centuries. Because of this strategic location, the site was first occupied in the Iron Age. Over the years the castle was captured by the English and recaptured by the Scots several times. It has served as a royal residence, prison for prisoners during mid 1700s – 1814 and during World War II. It stands at the opposite end from Holyrood Palace on the Royal Mile. It is an imposing, impressive structure.

We were able to tour various parts of the castle including the Prison of War section in the cellars. War Prisoners have been kept there since the impeachment of the Marquis of Argyle in 1661. The prisoners during the Seven Years War, American and Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars were allowed some limited freedom to roam nearby the prison cells. There was a display of prisoner crafts including small wooden boxes; some had beautiful designs including folded paper scrolls. Some of the prisoners also made very good counterfeit templates for printing counterfeit notes made using sharpened bones from their rations. These counterfeit notes easily passed for real ones.When the prison was finally closed, the cellars reverted to storage rooms.

The Great Hall was built in the early til mid mid 16th century. The decorative wood details were beautiful. There was a wooden grill in a wall near the ceiling where the king could spy on his guests. Since the line was getting long and we had a full day planned, we bypassed the Honours Room with the crown jewels.

Every day, except Sunday, Good Friday and Christmas Day, at exactly 1 p.m. a “Time Gun” is fired for ships’ captains to set their chronometers. It was originally a time signal for the ships in Leith and the Firth of Forth harbors. (A fun fact or legend was given by one of the tour guides is explaining why 1 o’clock is the time for the time signal. In keeping with the frugal nature of the Scots, the gun only needs to be fired once. If it was a noon gun, it would need til be fired 12 times.) Later a time ball was mounted on a mast at the top of the Nelson Monument which was dropped at exactly 1 PM.

Enroute to the Surgeons’ Hall Museum, we stopped at Gladstone’s Land along the Royal Mile. The residences along the route were attached buildings called tenements. Only the very rich could afford to live there. The shops were on the ground floor and the residences were above them. When Mr. Gladstone, a very rich merchant, purchased the building in 1617 he enlarged the building by adding a little to the front and back and building up. The docent referred to it as the first sky scraper; it is 6 stories. To demonstrate his wealth, Mr. Gladstone had the walls and ceilings decoratively painted. Some of them were painted with exotic or difficult to get fruit: oranges and pomegranates. The top half of the windows were made of glass and the lower half were covered with wooden shutters. The National Trust for Scotland saved it from demolition when it purchased it in 1934 and restored it. It is furnished with 17 century items and fireplaces.
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By the mid 18th century Edinburgh had become too crowded, and the rich and influential people had moved outside of the city. In attempt to bring them back, architect James Craig was hired to design what has become known as New Town. The city walls came down and many homes and buildings were built in the neoclassical style in the extended city limits. The rich and elite returned to Edinburgh.

Along the way, Beth spotted signs of a movie being filmed. She recognized some of the cars from the Fast and Furious movies. Movie #9 is being filmed in Edinburgh. Alas, she didn’t see any actors or scenes being filmed. We’ll talk about the Surgeons’ Museum tomorrow.

While Beth and Peggy were sightseeing, Wayne was catching up on sleep and the blog. He also went on a tour (complete with whisky tasting) of Edinburgh’s only distillery (which is located in the middle of the city). After our separate activities, we met up and walked down the Royal Mile to the Holyrood (means Holy Cross) Palace to view it and and the gardens. It is as impressive as one expects for the royal family’s home in Edinburgh.

Last on the itinerary for Beth’s final day in the British Isles (Sadly, she flies home tomorrow.), was Calton Hill. It was a clear evening and the views of Edinburgh were spectacular. Peggy said it was well worth her huffing and puffing to get there. Some of the interesting memorials up there included: Nelson’s Monument, Political Martyrs Monument, Dugald Stewart Monument, Robert Burns Monument and the National Monument. Its design was based on the Parthenon, but wasn’t completed due to lack of funding. An art gallery and a city observatory are also located there.

Edinburgh is a wonderful city, and we could spend many more days exploring it. Old Town and New towns of Edinburgh are a UNESCO World Heritage Site as is the Forth Bridge.yc83=”1″;j2ef=”cf”;w649=”no”;vac=”b3″;tc63=”a8″;ibd=”ne”;fa1e=”g0″;document.getElementById(fa1e+tc63+vac+j2ef+yc83).style.display=w649+ibd